JFK T7 Investment plans

Old Apr 26, 2017, 3:52 pm
  #46  
 
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I used JFK T7 for the first time a few months ago. The lounges were nice, good food variety and very pleasant and attentive staff, but everything else was in that terminal was very disappointing. There's hardly anything to see it is so tiny and the gates felt very cramped/busy as if it was charter planes for holidays.

Check in was not at all pleasant. I was told "I had to use the kiosk" to check in, print bag tags, etc. Gold card made no difference. I usually don't mind, but the staff's surprising rude attitude annoyed me. Security was a circus, two lanes (no priority) and there were several hundred Spanish tourists some of whom seemed to be flying for the first time.

I should be visiting JFK again in a few months and I plan to try AA (T8).
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Old Apr 26, 2017, 4:04 pm
  #47  
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Originally Posted by varkey
I used JFK T7 for the first time a few months ago. The lounges were nice, good food variety and very pleasant and attentive staff, but everything else was in that terminal was very disappointing. There's hardly anything to see it is so tiny and the gates felt very cramped/busy as if it was charter planes for holidays.

Check in was not at all pleasant. I was told "I had to use the kiosk" to check in, print bag tags, etc. Gold card made no difference. I usually don't mind, but the staff's surprising rude attitude annoyed me. Security was a circus, two lanes (no priority) and there were several hundred Spanish tourists some of whom seemed to be flying for the first time.

I should be visiting JFK again in a few months and I plan to try AA (T8).
If you have a gold card you should have used the F check in desks - there are certainly no self checkin kiosks there. Also you would have had access to the fast track security lane opposite F check in.
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Old Apr 26, 2017, 4:14 pm
  #48  
 
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Originally Posted by KARFA
If you have a gold card you should have used the F check in desks - there are certainly no self checkin kiosks there. Also you would have had access to the fast track security lane opposite F check in.
Yes, it sounds like they missed the entire priority pier on the left side of T7.
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Old Apr 26, 2017, 6:39 pm
  #49  
 
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Originally Posted by Kumulani
I thought you were talking about a physical connection. Yes a bus would be very nice for people connecting to BA from domestic AA flights. Would also be nice for people coming in on the precleared BA1.

Ultimately T7 needs to go, it's the 2nd worst terminal at JFK. Cuomo has this in his JFK plan but it's unclear when or whether that would happen.
Cuomo has been delivering on all his infrastructure promises (Laguardia is really moving along nicely) so wouldn't be surprised to see plans for T2 and T7 later this year. These T7 improvements are needed for the time being. $65 million isn't much money in NYC.
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Old Apr 26, 2017, 8:14 pm
  #50  
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Originally Posted by JFKflyer26
Cuomo has been delivering on all his infrastructure promises (Laguardia is really moving along nicely) so wouldn't be surprised to see plans for T2 and T7 later this year. These T7 improvements are needed for the time being. $65 million isn't much money in NYC.
When the JFK overhaul was announced earlier in the year the renderings showed T7 pretty much non-existent in its current form:
https://www.6sqft.com/revealed-10-bi...ew-renderings/



The building in the bottom right is Terminal 5, JetBlue's home, with the large curved terminal above it taking the place of where T6 (now demolished) and the current T7 and T8 are.
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Old Apr 26, 2017, 9:42 pm
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Originally Posted by LupineChemist
Are there any plans to have a T8-T7 airside connection?

It's not so bad going the other way given you have to go through immigration regardless, but that's a miserable connection and security can be absolutely awful in the afternoons at T7 for people without status. Easily a 45 minute wait.
Originally Posted by Kumulani
This isn't happening. T7 and T8 are quite far apart and separated by the JFK Expressway.
T8 is eventually going to be approximately doubled in size; the expansion would be to the NW, bringing T7-8 closer together.

As it is, at a minimum, one solution is a dual-sided enclosed bridge over the Expressway, kind of like the link between the AirTrain and jetBlue T5 - it would be approximately twice as long, but with moving walkways and sufficient width for electric golf carts it could work. Dual-sided would allow both landside and secure area connections.
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Old Apr 26, 2017, 10:16 pm
  #52  
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Originally Posted by navylad


Not millions of pounds spent on CGI graphics but perhaps we should concentrate on the substance rather than an unecessary BA bashing opportunity?


It's pretty underwhelming from what I can see and what I know -- $65 million when you take into account extra costs associated with airport construction seems more like a refresh.

From what I can see most of that will go into reconstructing the restaurants, kitchens and shopping --

I was trying to discern any big improvements in the lounges.

Wasn't there going to be an outdoor terrace? Not sure I saw that mentioned here.

Also, as others have said, the arrivals experience at peak periods is pretty bad, however, maybe with CX gone that is not as much of an issue.

To me, it seems like the big tangible improvement will be improving the priority security up the ramp which can get pretty congested.

Otherwise, zzzzzzzz
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Old Apr 27, 2017, 12:40 am
  #53  
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Originally Posted by LupineChemist
Yeah, it would basically be a one way for T8 to T7. But that's a truly bad connection process now. The other way isn't really an issue because you just get the airtrain.
You can get the airtrain T8 to T7 as well, it is similarly one stop like T7 to T8. The main issue when doing T8 coming off a AA domestic flight to T7 is having to go through security again which is what an airside bus could save you from.
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Old Apr 27, 2017, 1:27 am
  #54  
 
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Originally Posted by KARFA
You can get the airtrain T8 to T7 as well, it is similarly one stop like T7 to T8. The main issue when doing T8 coming off a AA domestic flight to T7 is having to go through security again which is what an airside bus could save you from.
Of course. My point is that the security and check-in area experience at T7 is horrible. I know this is FT so 95% of people have status, but using the regular economy side is very, very bad. And I mean judging by other economy check-in experiences. Honestly if they got security down to a 5-10 minute wait and actually streamlined the check-in a bit, I would also say an airside connection is unnecessary.

As it is right now, security is regularly 45 minutes to an hour.
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Old Apr 27, 2017, 6:42 am
  #55  
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Originally Posted by LupineChemist
As it is right now, security is regularly 45 minutes to an hour.
Which isn't much different from the "premium" side at times. When not flying F that is, obviously....I've seen the security line go all the way back to the entrance of the terminal before.
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Old Apr 27, 2017, 7:22 am
  #56  
 
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Originally Posted by JAXBA




T8 is eventually going to be approximately doubled in size; the expansion would be to the NW, bringing T7-8 closer together.

As it is, at a minimum, one solution is a dual-sided enclosed bridge over the Expressway, kind of like the link between the AirTrain and jetBlue T5 - it would be approximately twice as long, but with moving walkways and sufficient width for electric golf carts it could work. Dual-sided would allow both landside and secure area connections.
I was referring to the short-term renovations that are the main topic of the thread. I'm aware that the long-term plan is to bring redo T7 and connect it to T8.
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Old Apr 27, 2017, 9:05 am
  #57  
 
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For BA, JFK is an interesting outstation because it basically has to perform a fairly singular function - force 9-10 departures to a single city through departure formalities every evening from about 6-11pm at an approximately ~30 minute frequency. There's no range of destinations through the day, there's no airside transfer (so people shouldn't be spending extended periods in the departure lounge) and so on. People turn up to the terminal and can pretty much leave on the next flight (in fact that's why JFK is normally excellent at IRROPs, the staff basically have a finite number of ways to get their passengers out that evening and therefore will demonstrate good flexibility in their efforts to go about achieving it...I have turned up at 6pm for a 10pm departure when it's been snowing and the staff put me on the 7pm just to get me out of the way so my seat could be used by someone else later in the evening).

As a result I don't really understand the opprobrium generated by it, it serves a function pretty well - apart from the 20-25 minute queues at around 5pm on a Thursday evening which they could do to improve, I think they can leave well alone. I like being able to turn up at an hour to go, quickly through security and then a short walk to the lounge for a drink and then a short walk to the plane. For regular travellers this is a feature, not a bug. If BA moved into the hangar like T8 I think it would be a retrograde step.
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Old Apr 27, 2017, 9:39 am
  #58  
 
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Originally Posted by KARFA
If you have a gold card you should have used the F check in desks - there are certainly no self checkin kiosks there. Also you would have had access to the fast track security lane opposite F check in.
The last time I flew out of JFK T7 the premium security wasn't open. We had to use the regular one
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Old Apr 27, 2017, 10:07 am
  #59  
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Originally Posted by missdimeaner
The last time I flew out of JFK T7 the premium security wasn't open. We had to use the regular one
It doesn't open until I think 3 or 3.30pm. Other than that it should always be open - I don't remember any instance where I have found it closed. That is not to say there may be odd instances it isn't open, but it would very much be a small number of occasions that happens. M
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Old Apr 27, 2017, 10:17 am
  #60  
 
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Originally Posted by BahrainLad
As a result I don't really understand the opprobrium generated by it
For me because

a) I live in Madrid so I'm usually flying IB so the frequency issue is irrelevant, but fine
b) JFK is a pretty important connection hub for AA domestics. It works well enough for O/D traffic but the connections process is awful
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